Who:
Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office
Support Services Bureau
-Forensic Sciences Division
Strategic Planning Division
-Grants Administration

What:  
The Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office has purchased a Full Spectrum Imaging System with funding from the Paul Coverdell Forensic Science Improvement Grants Program through the National Institute of Justice.

Where:  
The lab workstation will be housed in the Forensic Sciences Division. The mobile workstation will be house in the Forensic Sciences Division and will be available for use at various crimes scenes, as needed.

When:  
The workstation became operational on February 18, 2015.
 

How/Why:  
The Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office has purchased a Full Spectrum Imaging System with funding from the Paul Coverdell Forensic Science Improvement Grants Program.

The Forensic Sciences Division has added the Full Spectrum Imaging System to their wide variety of technical equipment.   

The new Full Spectrum Imaging System comes in both a permanent lab version and a mobile version that will assist Forensic Science Specialists out in the field at crime scenes.

The purpose of the new equipment is to increase timeliness and efficiency when submitting evidence to Latent Fingerprint Examiners. The Full Spectrum Imaging System offers a higher quality product while using a non-destructive method.

The system allows the Specialists to view fingerprints from shortwave UV light through long range Infra-Red. Fingerprints are then photographed using a 16 megapixel camera, capturing images at 1000 dpi. The images are then saved within the computer system prior to any powder or chemical processing. This in turn preserves the integrity of the piece of evidence being viewed.

“In the world of crime scene processing there are multiple ways to process a crime scene and/or evidence. This technology gives us another method, or chance, to locate the latent fingerprint and possibly identify the perpetrator while being non-intrusive to evidence” said Forensic Science Manager, Greg Mason. 

The NIJ’s Paul Coverdell Forensic Science Improvement Grants Program awards grants to states and local government to improve forensic science and medical examiner services.

Media interested in sound or a demonstration is asked to call the Sheriff’s Public Information Office (727-582-6221) to set an appointment.